FABRE'S BOOK OF INSECTS 



The female's only thought is to lay her eggs. This done, 

 she dies. The male, -after cowering in a crevice for a day 

 or two, also perishes. This is the origin of all those 

 corpses swinging in the Spiders' web, with which the 

 neighbourhood of the Anthophora's dwelling is uphol- 

 stered. 



At first sight one would expect that the Sitaris, when 

 laying her eggs, would go from cell to cell, confiding 

 an egg to each of the Bee-grubs. But when, in the 

 course of my observations, I searched the Bees' galleries, 

 I invariably found the eggs of the Sitaris gathered in 

 a heap inside the entrance, at a distance of an inch or 

 two from the opening. They are white, oval, and very 

 small, and they stick together slightly. As for their 

 number, I do not believe I am exaggerating when I esti- 

 mate it at two thousand at least. 



Thus, contrary to what one was to some extent en- 

 titled to suppose, the eggs are not laid in the cells of the 

 Bee; they are simply dumped in a heap inside the door- 

 way of her dwelling. Nay more, the mother does not 

 make any protective structure for them; she takes no 

 pains to shield them from the rigours of winter; she 

 does not even attempt to stop up the entrance-lobby 

 in which she has placed them, and so protect them from 

 the thousand enemies that threaten them. For as long 



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